Defiant Order

by Donald B McFarlane

  Joe turned his attention back to the guards at the checkpoint, and then looked at the ship off in the distance. After weeks of work, the ship's hull had been fully repaired, and her flight systems had been brought online. The crew was slowly going through systems checks and diagnostics. Master Engineer Sulvan was confident that the ship could break orbit and perform limited flight operations with the fuel it had now, but the consensus had been to take things slowly, and to ensure that the ship would be able to fly and then land again before risking any off-world test flights.

  After five minutes of waiting, a jeep pulled up behind Joe, and Lieutenant Colonel Almada jumped out, in full combat gear. "Joe, good to see you." he said in Spanish.

  Joe walked over to his friend, shocked that he was carrying an M4 assault rifle, and had his Browning Hi-Power pistol on a drop-leg holster. It seemed like something was definitely going to happen, and soon.

  "What the fuck is going on?" Joe asked, he was angry, and it was probably obvious to Almada.

  Martin put his arm around Joe's shoulders and walked him away from the vehicle, and the checkpoint. "We've been given orders to secure the ship, and detain the crew."

  Joe looked at the ground and kicked the soft, wet earth with the toe of his shoe. He couldn't believe that this was actually going to happen. He knew that Tohil desperately wanted access to the ship and its technology, but he would never have thought that they'd stoop to such audacious tactics.

  "When?" He asked.

  "Two hours." Martin replied.

  “And how do they plan to deal with the Sentinels?"

  "They've got some electromagnetic pulse weapon that they think should neutralise them."

  Joe looked at Martin, then back towards the ship. "Where do you stand in all this?"

  Almada put his hands on his hips and looked past Joe towards the Tohil building, and Lieutenant General Erico, who was now standing next to John Robert. "I'm against it. So are some of my men."

  Joe moved closer to Martin, almost standing nose to nose, and locked eyes with him. "We need a plan."

  The next fifteen minutes were spent discussing options, and realities. They knew that the Tohil mercenaries and the Paraguayan military were going to present a challenge, and Martin only had eight men he could count on if they changed sides. What was most pressing was getting in contact with Sulvan, who was in command in Ranix's absence, and to make sure that he put the Sentinel's on alert, without tipping their hand to those planning to attack the ship.

  Martin agreed to go to the ship and inform Sulvan, of the situation, and to inform them of Joe's plan, which, to Martin sounded a little wild, but he knew that it was probably the only real option based on the factors they were faced with.

  "Okay," Martin said, nodding his head in agreement with Joe's plan. "Here." Martin pulled his pistol out of his thigh holster and handed it to Joe.

  "Thanks." Joe took the gun, pulled the slide to the rear, chambering a 9mm round. He kept the hammer to the rear, and double checked the safe, which was on. The weapon was now in condition one, and ready to fire once the safety was switched off. He then placed the pistol in the small of his back, making it readily available in the event of hostilities. "See you in thirty." He gave Martin a wink, turned, and walked off.

  While Martin made his way towards the ship to inform Sulvan of Joe's plan, the American made his way to the two remaining members of the SETI team who were still standing nearby. Joe reckoned if they could get on the ship, and fly out of the area before the planned strike, they stood a good chance of escaping without any bloodshed.

  Joe found Rhea packing her belongings in the room they shared. "What did the President say?" She asked.

  "He told me to do everything in my power to ensure the integrity of our relations with the visitors."

  "And what's going on with us getting kicked out of here?" She asked as she continued to pack her bags.

  Joe walked over to his girlfriend and put his hand on her shoulder. "Listen to me." Rhea stopped packing, stood up, and looked at Joe with a concerned look on her face.

  "The local authorities are going to try and seise the spaceship." He said.

  "What?" She looked back down at her half-packed bag. "Is that why there are so many people with guns around lately?"

  "Yes."

  "Fuck." It was the first time Joe had ever heard her swear. "Do we have a plan?" She asked as she started to tremble slightly.

  Joe turned Rhea until she was facing him, and wrapped his arms around her, and gave her a hug. "I've got a plan." Joe looked the ceiling and the cheap fan that was rotating slowly above his head. He knew that his plan of escaping with the spacecraft was not going to be as easy as he would hope for, but if they didn't try and escape now, then things could get a lot worse.

  Rubbing her shoulders gently, Joe gave her a light kiss on the cheek. "We'll be fine." Joe let go of Rhea and moved towards his duffle bag which was sitting in the corner of their room.

  "Come over here." Joe ordered to the still shocked Doctor. Opening his bag, he pulled out a black bulletproof vest. "Put this on under your shirt." Rhea took the vest from Joe with a blank look on her face, almost as if she had gone into shock.

  Joe stood up and took the garment from her and set in down on his bed. Without saying a word, Joe slowly unbuttoned her shirt, and tossed it down next to the body armour, then slipped the black kevlar vest over her head, and did up the velcro side straps. "This is a level IIIA vest, you'll be safe in it." Once the vest was on, Joe picked up her shirt, and helped her on with it, and buttoned it up.

  "Joe." Rhea's voice was weak, and Joe could tell that she was on the verge of crying. "What's going to happen?"

  "We're going to get on the ship and get the hell out of here. Bobby and Martin are going to come with us." His reply didn't help her confidence, which was shaken.

  "Okay."

  Joe looked around the room, and at the bag she had packed. "I need you to leave your bag here. Just take items that you can put in your pockets or purse." Joe bent down to look into her eyes. "Understand?" Rhea nodded. "Okay, baby. Wait here, I'm going to talk to Bobby. I'll be back in a few minutes, and then we're going to walk out of here." Joe quickly checked his duffle bag for any items that he wanted to take with him and noted that there was nothing of importance in the bag.

  Standing up, he gave the room another look, making sure that he hadn't forgotten anything, and once he was confident that anything of importance was already on his person, he quickly left the room and moved down the hallway two doors to Doctor Temple's room, where he found Bobby already packing his backpack.

  "How are we looking?" Joe asked.

  "Fine. I'll be ready to go in about five minutes."

  Joe looked at his watch, it was twenty past ten. "Okay. We're meeting Lieutenant Colonel Almada at 1030, so I'll meet you outside in six minutes." Bobby nodded and went back to his packing.

  Walking back out into the hallway, Joe pulled out his satellite phone and placed another call to the White House. The President listened to Joe's plan quietly, before giving him his approval. With Ranix on his way to the United Nations in New York City, the President realised that any threat to the ship could have long-term, dire consequences, and it would look too premeditated if an attack took place in the acting Ship Masters absence.

  With his blessing, the President wished Joe good luck and ended the call. Shoving the phone back into his pocket, Joe put his hands on the wall of the corridor and rested his head against the structure. He went over his plan in his head again. It was brilliant in its simplicity, just sneak himself, Rhea, Bobby and some local Special Forces onto the ship, and fly away. Yep, that was it, he thought to himself. He just wasn't too sure where they were flying to yet.

  Heading back to his room, he found Rhea on her laptop, transferring all her research files onto a small flash drive. "Give me another minute." She said, not looking up from her computer.

  "Sure." Joe responded, just as his satellite phone rang. "
Hello."

  "Major Hunt. This is Sulvan." The translation sounded very mechanical, but never the less, it was good to hear from the ship.

  "Have you spoken with Colonel Almada?"

  "Yes."

  "And?"

  "I discussed the matter with Doctor Prure and the Sentinel Commander. They have approved your course of action."

  "Excellent."

  "All that needs to happen now is for your party to get to the ship."

  Joe smiled. "I'm working on that. We should be heading in your direction in about ten minutes."

  "I will monitor the situation. Good luck."

  The line went dead. We're in business, Joe thought to himself. Putting the phone back into his pocket, he opened the door onto the hallway just in time to see Bobby walk by. He turned back and looked at Rhea who was standing over her computer, flash drive in hand.

  "Ready to go?" He asked.

  "Yeah." She said with a bit of a sigh.

  Exiting the room, they made their way down the corridor to the door, which Bobby had left open. Stepping back out into the rain, they joined Bobby who was back to his usual cheerful self.

  "Let's get the fuck out here!" He said with a smile.

  "Damn straight." Joe said and moved off towards the ship.

  Keeping his head on a constant swivel, Joe was on the lookout for any signs that his plan to escape with the ship had been compromised. As the group got closer to the checkpoint, Joe noticed that Martin was standing there with six of his men, talking to the Tohil guards.

  As the trio of American's reached the checkpoint, Martin gave Joe a smile, and the gate was raised, allowing Joe and his party to continue walking towards the ship, which was a few minutes away.

  After they had been through the checkpoint, Martin came up next to Joe. "I told them that we had the authorisation to escort you to the ship one last time. They didn't ask any questions."

  Joe looked over his shoulder at the checkpoint, where everything seemed like business as usual. "Where are your other men?" Joe asked.

  "These six are the only other men I could trust. We've all got one thing in common, no family, and an objection to the plans of our superiors." He said in fluent English.

  "Alright." Joe replied, and looked back to the ship, which they were approaching at a swift pace.

  As the group got to within one hundred yards of the ship, Martin's radio came to life, with someone yelling at him in Spanish. The sound caught everyone's attention, but Bobby and Rhea didn't speak Spanish, so they stared at Joe with worried looks on their faces.

  "Shit." Joe let out. He looked over his shoulder and spotted several vehicles racing towards them at high speed. He looked at Bobby and Rhea, "If something happens, just run towards the ship and don't look back."

  The group picked up their pace to a trot, but it was no use. The Tohil vehicles reached them quickly, with one pickup truck pulling in front of the group, blocking their path, with another pickup, and two armoured vehicles stopped behind the group. The group, now surrounded, stopped walking. They were still 75 yards from the ship's hangar bay doors, which were closed.

  Out of the pickup hopped Lieutenant General Erico and a Tohil mercenary. The General was carrying a Glock in his right hand as he walked towards the group. "Just where do you think you are taking these people, Colonel?" He asked Almada in loud Spanish. "You're surrounded, now put down your weapons, and return with me to the command centre."

  Lieutenant Colonel Almada looked to the three vehicles behind him. The pickup truck had the electromagnetic weapon mounted on it, and a mercenary with a G36 standing by the driver's door. The two armoured vehicles had remote weapons stations on their roofs and had brought four guards each, making it eleven shooters, plus three heavy weapon systems to his six men and Joe, and himself, and they only had light weapons. Not exactly a good tactical position to be in.

  "I'm sorry, General. I can't do that." Almada replied defiantly.

  The General let out a loud laugh, looking towards the sky, letting the light rain softly kiss his face. "That's exactly what you're going to do, Colonel. I've got eight platoons surrounding the ship, plus another six armoured vehicles. You've got no choice."

  Joe slowly started to move his hand to the small of his back.

  "Since when did our leaders start taking orders from a foreign company!" Martin asked.

  The General moved towards the Colonel, who was standing about five feet to Joe's left and put his left hand on Almada's shoulder. "You never did quite get a good grasp of politics, did you, Martin?"

  Bang! The General had brought his pistol up quickly, and at point blank range fired one round into Martin's stomach.

  Joe and the rest of the Special Forces operators reacted like lightning, while the Tohil mercenaries were caught off guard, not expecting the Paraguayan General to act so rashly. Joe quickly pulled his Browning from the small of his back removed the safety, and Mozambiqued General Erico, by putting two rounds into the General's chest, and a finishing shot into his forehead. At a distance of five feet, Joe's shots were textbook.

  Shifting his attention to the guard standing in between the group and the ship, Joe repeated the Mozambique drill, dropping the guard like a sack of potatoes to the ground. With the initiative theirs, the Special Forces operators and opened fire on the other guards, killing three in the first wave of shots, scattering the remaining black-clad mercenaries.

  "Move!" Joe yelled at the group. Both Rhea and Bobby had frozen in the seconds after seeing Martin shot, but were now coming to their senses and were moving to the other side of the truck that was in between them and the ship, along with five of the SF operators. The sixth was helping Joe drag Martin's body towards the truck that was in between them and the ship. As the group sought shelter behind the truck, the six remaining Tohil guards opened fire with their G36s, peppering the truck with bullets.

  Joe quickly unhooked Martin's rifle from its sling and took the safety off. "Go!" Joe stood up just in front of the truck's cab and fired off a series of aimed shots at the Tohil personnel while another of the SF operators returned fire from behind the front right wheel. The other men returned fire over the rear of the truck. The roar from the firing was deafening. Brass shell casings were flying out of the rifles ejection ports as fast as the men could fire aimed shots.

  Ducking back down, Joe changed magazines from Martin's tactical vest. His friend was still breathing but was losing lots of blood.

  "Hang in there buddy!" Joe screamed as he popped back up to spray off another clip at the Tohil men.

  On his way down, he noticed that the turrets on the two armoured vehicles were starting to come to life. Whoever was at the controls of the vehicles were finally getting them into the fight, which would be grave for Joe and the others.

  Looking at Rhea and Bobby, Joe knew that he had to get them moving before it was too late. "You've got to run for the ship now!" He screamed. "We'll keep their heads down, just run!"

  Bobby and Rhea looked at each other, and then looked at the ship. It was still 70 yards away, but now the hangar door was opening, giving them a chance. "We can make it," Rhea said as she took Bobby's hand. "Let's go!" The pair crouched low and began running towards the ship.

  They hadn't gone for more than ten yards before a 5.56mm bullet slammed into the back of Bobby's head, and blew off the front of his face. His grip tightened as his limb corpse hit the ground with a thump, dragging Rhea with him, who let out a shrilling scream when she saw the bloodied mess that had once been her friends face.

  "Run!" Joe yelled towards Stokes, before sending another volley of fire towards the vehicles.

  Looking to the rear of the truck, he noticed that three of the operators were down. He looked back to Martin who had propped himself up against the truck.

  "Not looking good, Joe." He said, coughing up blood. "Get the fuck out of here." Martin reached his bloodied hands towards the rifle Joe was holding. "Go." Was all the injured man could say.

  Jo
e turned and looked at Rhea, who was still screaming on the ground next to Bobby's body. "Good hunting, my friend." He returned the rifle to Almada and dashed after Stokes.

  As his friend raced towards the spacecraft, Martin closed his eyes for a second and coughed up blood onto his chin. The rain's soft beads of water continued to fall on his face, bringing a weak grin to his face. Taking a firm grip on the weapon, he stumbled to his feet, barely making it to the hood of the truck, and took aim at the Tohil vehicles. Even with his blurred vision, he had a good enough idea of where to fire, and with the last ounce of strength in his body he squeezed the trigger of the weapon and let roar the full magazine of thirty rounds towards the black-clad mercenaries.

  As Joe raced away from the truck, he could hear the sound of the remaining Special Forces soldiers firing, just as one of the armoured vehicles Gatling guns opening fire on the vehicle. The buzzing sound was distinctive, and after a few seconds of firing, a burst of fire hit the truck's fuel tank, causing a massive explosion that threw Joe forward onto his stomach, just behind Rhea.

  Looking over his shoulder, all he could see was a billowing plume of smoke stretching into the sky with thick flames of fire burning. He saw Martin lying on his front, motionless, the back of his tactical vest alight.

  "Fuck!" Joe yelled, propping himself up onto all fours, his vision slightly blurry, barely able to make out the distinctive shape of a Sentinel as it emerged from the hangar bay, firing blue energy beams over Joe's head.

  Shaking his head to regain his composure, he stumbled to his feet and moved towards Rhea who was shaking with fear, tears running down her face. "We've got to go! Now!" He screamed at her as he dragged her to her feet, as bullets from the Tohil mercenaries were peppering the ground nearby.